Table 2 Pfeffer’s typology of theoretical perspectives in organization theory
| Â | Perspectives on action | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Level of analysis | Â | Purposive, intentional, Goal Directed, Rational | Externally Constrained and Controlled | Emergent, Almost-Random, Dependent on Process and Social Construction |
Individuals, Coalitions, or Subunits | - Expectancy theory | - Operant conditioning | - Ethnomethodology | |
- Goal setting | - Social learning theory | - Cognitive theories of organizations | ||
Needs theories and job design | - Socializations | - Language in organizations | ||
- Political theories | - Role theories | - Affect-base processes | ||
| Â | - Social context effects and groups | Â | ||
| Â | - Retrospective rationality | Â | ||
| Â | - Social information processing | Â | ||
Total Organization | - Structural contingency theory | - Population ecology | - Organizations as paradigms | |
- Market failures/transaction costs | - Resource dependence | - Decision process and administrative theories | ||
- Marxist or class perspectives | Â | - Institutional theory | ||